Gallery: Passport To Power–The Engine Behind Bombardier’s Global 7500

Rich Piellisch November 16, 2021
GE program manager Melvyn Heard with Passport engine

GE Passport Enables Industry ‘Flagship’

Credit: Rich Piellisch

GE Aviation’s Passport turbofan engine, with 18,900 lbs. of thrust, powers Bombardier’s ultra-long-range Global 7500, the planemaker’s largest and longest range business jet. With its 7,700-nm range, Bombardier the Global 7500 as the company’s flagship aircraft.

GE program manager Melvyn Heard with Passport engine at the recent NBAA-BACE 2021 convention in Las Vegas.

GE Passport engine undergoing icing test

The Passport Put Through The Paces

Credit: GE Aviation

A GE Passport engine undergoes an icing test at the company’s Engine Testing, Research and Development Center at the James A. Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg.

The facility can evaluate engines as they are subjected to hail, dust and bird ingestion, GE says, “but its real specialty is ice certification testing due to Winnipeg’s climate. “This testing is essential for understanding how engines withstand ice build-up. It has been instrumental for GE engines developed in the past decade.”

GE Aviation’s Passport engine assembly

Passport at Peebles Prior to Shipping

Credit: GE Aviation

GE Aviation’s Passport engine assembly was transferred in mid-2020 from Strother Field in Kansas, to Lafayette, Indiana, at a plant built expressly for the company’s LEAP engine for airliners.

“Having multiple product lines there helps improve the site’s flexibility and capacity,” the company says. GE Aviation expects to deliver its 100th Passport engine from Lafayette by the end of 2021, having delivered more than 100 from Kansas.

Passport is seen here at GE’s final test facility in Peebles, Ohio. There, an hour east of the company’s Cincinnati headquarters, GE Aviation engines are tested prior to shipping to customers.

GE technician

Finishing Touches

Credit: GE Aviation

A GE technician puts the finishing touches on a Passport engine at GE’s final test facility in Peebles, Ohio, prior to shipment by truck to Bombardier’s facility in Canada.

GE Passport engine is installed on FTV1

First Passport For The Global 7000

Credit: Bombardier

A Passport engine is installed on FTV1, the first Bombardier Global 7000-series test aircraft in Toronto, Canada. The program was announced in September 2015, and the name changed to the Global 7500 in mid-2018, as performance exceeded expectations.

Global 7000 first flight

Credit: Bombardier

Bombardier publicized the first flight of a Global 7000-series airplane in November 2016.

Global map

Flying Farther

Credit: Bombardier

In October 2019, a Passport-powered Global 7500 flew nonstop from Sydney, Australia, to Detroit--notching 8,225 nm, “the longest nonstop city-pair flight in business aviation history,” GE Aviation said at the time. A Global 7500 had previously flown nonstop from Singapore to Tucson, Arizona–8,152 nm.

A Bombardier map shows the Global 7500’s nonstop range from New York.

GE Program manager Melvyn Heard

Passport’s FADEC

Credit: Rich Piellisch

Program manager Melvyn Heard points out Passport’s FADEC/full authority digital engine control atop the engine at the recent NBAA-BACE convention in Las Vegas.

In addition to running the GE Aviation’s Passport program, Heard manages the company’s work on the HF20 engine for the HondaJet. He also oversees service and support of such legacy GE engines as the CF34-3, found on Bombardier Challenger jets, and the CFE738, which powers Dassault Falcon 2000s.

GE Aviation nacelle engine housing for Passport on Bombardier Global 7500

Nexcelle Trumpets Role on GE’s Passport

Credit: Nexcelle

GE Aviation partner Nexcelle talked up its nacelle engine housing for Passport on the Bombardier Global 7500 business jet at the recent NBAA-BACE 2021 aircraft static display at Henderson Executive Airport south of Las Vegas.

The nacelle’s features include a one-piece extended aluminum inlet lip for reduced aerodynamic drag and a single-piece extended composite inner barrel with advanced acoustic protection for reduced noise. Composite materials are also used for a simplified fan cowl, with large upper and lower fan cowl doors facilitating access for engine inspection and maintenance.

In the lower photos from NBAA-BACE, the Passport nacelle’s target-type thrust reverser is shown in its stowed position (left). The photo at right details the nacelles’ aft fuselage installation on the Global 7500.

In addition to Nexcelle, GE Aviation’s Passport partners include Japan’s IHI, which is responsible for the engine’s low-pressure turbine module, aerodrive systems, fan hub frame and aft fan case; and Safran Boosters for Passport’s booster module, lube tank and pump, and heat exchangers.

Bombardier Global 7500

‘A Unified Propulsion System’

Credit: Bombardier

“GE’s Passport is more than just an engine,” Bombardier says, describing the turbofan as “a unified propulsion system with advanced health monitoring that delivers exceptional reliability, increased efficiency, lower emissions and reduced maintenance costs.”

Bombardier Global 7500

100 Global 7500s And Counting

Credit: Bombardier

Bombardier celebrated the delivery of its 50th Global 7500 earlier in the year and is now completing the 100th.

The Global 7500 is assembled at Bombardier’s Downsview plant in Toronto. In 2023, production will shift to the company’s US$400 million, 770,000-sq.-ft., environmentally efficient plant at the Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2023.

GE Aviation’s Passport engine powering Bombardier’s ultra-long-range Global 7500 business jet is “more than just an engine,” the planemaker says. “It is a unified propulsion system.”

 

This article was first published December 3, 2021.

Rich Piellisch

Rich Piellisch has been covering industry segments and issues for Aviation Week since the late 1980s with an emphasis on Who Is Selling What to Whom…

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